Honors English Final Wikia
Cultural Evolution in America Through the Scope of Literature. This is a non-standard submission to Mr. H. By Buddy Sims. So let's get this show on the road! I am also only picking the times and events and pieces of literature that I think severely changed American history and culture. File:These crazies.jpg|Puritan Clothing File:Historical Refrence.jpeg|Clothing of the 1700's File:1800.jpeg|Clothing of the 1800's File:1850's.jpeg|Clothing of the 1850's ''American Culture Review (A "Short" summary of American History + Some Culture) Mr. Sims's super generalized map of all American History starting from the puritans. American culture is straight forward to say the least. People were tired of religious oppression [http://honors-english-final.wikia.com/wiki/File:These_crazies.jpg ''The puritans] / kings are greedy [http://honors-english-final.wikia.com/wiki/File:All_hail_the_king%3F.jpg Mr. George] / America was ripe for the picking. So what ended up happening was when European imperialism had reached a head people saw this land mass and were like "O-sht I need some of dat, and dat, and dat too.". Imperialism cloaked as colonialism had made kings send their subjects west to expand their reach and gold. The American country did not become established until July 4th 1776, gaining their independence from Great Britain. Their roots deeply seeded in new found state-hood, they lived a hard working lifestyle and based on the foundation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The American population, in the early years of the US, looked something like [http://honors-english-final.wikia.com/wiki/File:Historical_Refrence.jpeg this]. Having mostly formal clothing and something similar to royalty back in Brittan, the American colonists were still heavily influenced by their oppressive overlords at the time, even if they changed everything from their government to how they eat a steak the Early American country was still heavily influenced by Brittan. Moving on past 1790 to 1820 would be the sort of "Grace Period" known to be as the pre-civil war era. The south was still a racist pit of bigotry and slavery, the North industrialized and free, where they were both beginning their hostilities towards each other. In the years leading up to the American Civil War, tensions between the two portions of the country had built up ever since the final establishment of the country back in 1776. The American civil war lasted for a total of 4 years, and secured the fate of all African American people within the country. Left an entire country in ruin socially, and economically, leaving some time after to be called the Reconstruction Period. Next would be the industrial revolution in America, where Social Darwinism and Social Gospel would duke it out in a fight of ideologically blank America. (Kind of a big deal, and a lot more defining for American Ideals of Democracy and Capitalism for the time.) Stepping forward a little to 1930 would be (Approximately) where old world tensions reignited in to the second world war. (The second most bloody war human kind has had to date.) In this time America had been on the verge of collapse, due to the great finical crisis that happened back in 1929 -- otherwise known as the Great Depression --, and had begun to worry about the new war in Europe. The date of WWII started some where around 1938, or possibly sooner because the Japanese were fighting other wars before the European theater started. After America had left the western front, and the "soft underbelly of Europe" we had started a new phase of *Ahem* Well I think you can guess what happens when soldiers come home after a long successful war. Giving birth to the contraceptive known as the "Pill" this generation was known for their "endurance". Something called the Baby Boomer generation started there roots here, In this time period a massive way of babies was flooding the newly urbanized American Ticky Tacky houses and super markets. Continuing on would be the next wave of Feminism in the 70's, where women were forced back in to the kitchens on a mass scale. This is the time where the idea of "Oh it must be a sexual problem." kind of divulged from. Not to mention how several new idea's of thinking evolved from this era: Environmentalism (Not covered in Hon Eng.), Awakening Civil rights for women, and... well... the Good stuff man... Continuing on would be the end of the cold war (I know I am skipping a lot of content, there will be something on the 90's soon.) And how the dissolving of the USSR would affect the world. With the that would be how it caused the US to have a shit fit and go so paranoid as it was then. Now on to the 90's in general, It was known as "The most peaceful and happy times in America.". During the 1990's there was a growing epidemic known as Y2K -- The Year two thousand problem -- was a computer bug that made it impossible for computers to distinguish between 2000, and 1900. Moving on to the next millennium would be the 2000 - 2010 area. In this time the internet has arisen in to a massive global communication center. Cultures, Histories, Events, and so much more can be shared and sorted through in this globally maintained network of computers. (Done) ''The Puritans. This all begins with the puritans, YOU'RE ALL GOING TO HELL! What I mean by that is that one,[http://honors-english-final.wikia.com/wiki/File:Hell.jpg ''you're all going to hell], and the puritans were sort of like way back when extremists that forced their way of life on to everyone who was not of their ilk. Their literature is very sparse because of their unlucky happenstance to needing to survive in a untamed land. Because y'know when you have to hunt for food, cut your own fire wood, and generally carve out a life for your self, you'd find writing a task that does not exactly benefit you in the long run due to needing that time to hunt, or to harvest crop, or to cut fire wood so you and your family does not turn in to a Pure-icicle. Heh, get it? 'Short Review of "The Crucible"' From the book / play known as "The Crucible" by Aurther Millier it is shown how the puritans MIGHT have lived, and acted amounst each other. In the Puritan town of Salem Mass. a small group of girls go out to dance in the woods with a black slave named Tituba. They are promptly caught by a minister named Revrend Parris, while parris beings the girls back to his house one of them passes in to a comatose state. (Sounds wrong already does it?) If you were living in their time you'd have to deal with the possibility of dyeing from disease, famine from lack of food, freezing over, possible native attack, and on top of it all you'd have to deal with possible prosecution for witchcraft. (If you were to be charged you'd be put between heavy stones, and if you were not crushed you'd be found of wicth craft, if you did die you'd be innocent.) Almost every tactic the puritans used was counter productive, usually killing each other at the drop of the word "Witch". While Parris is using crowd control on the people around his house, one of the girls, Abigail, has started to talk to talk to the other girls, telling them to not speak about what had happened. The next part divulges a love circle between John Proctor, Abigail, and Elizabeth. (John had an affair with Abigail when she was working with him in his home a year ago, and Elizabeth is John's wife.) Waking up screaming Betty draws the entire crowd of people in to the upper room. This is the point where people are thinking that she's a witch, but she's not, she's just weird. Then you get the money, and land deed, argument going on between Proctor, Parris, Guiles Corey, and Thomas Putnam. (This fight shows that there might be a gouging divide in the puritan community) (I am tired and I want to finish this final soon, so if you're still cutious about the story / plot of the story ill allow you to read the summary from the site itself.) ''Ze Quote of the day: '"The parochial snobbery of these people was partly responsible for their failure to convert the Indians. Probably they also preferred to take land from heathens rather than from fellow Christians. At any rate, very few Indians were converted, and the Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the Devil’s last preserve, his home base and the citadel of his final stand. To the best of their knowledge the American forest was the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God. (I. paragraph 10)"' This showed that the American Puritans were very much limited to super station and religion to guide their way. As the life of a settler in this time was very difficult. 'US Independence / Civil War. Next in my "Time Line" would be the US American founding event, forever engraved in frat houses, and alcoholic nationalist, memories as the war for independence from Britain. This all started off with the revolutionary war, and a year later American independence. What lead up to the start though would be unfair taxation and unequal representation by the British parliament and king. People got tired of the bull shit and started to revolt against the most legendary army of the time, the Red Coats. General of the US army, George Washington, staged a revolution from great Brittan. Establishing the America's as their own nation.(Sorry for the bear bones portion of this topic, i am not very knowledgeable on this particular portion of US history.) And a few short decades after the revolutionary conflict / war for indpendence the war for civil rights erupts in the states. Also known as the American Civil War, it was over the thought of US black slaves in the south not being free. This was did not last long, but did destroy a lot of the country side and industrial complexes of the country. A short review of the Civil War would be that when the US was started. Essentially the south had to adopt slave labor because their economies were mostly agricultural. While the northern states prided on production and manufacturing of their economical status. Fast forward a few decades and you can see that the situation has not changed much at all. When the south got so pissed off over anti-slavery laws and the slow extermination of slave labor in the states. So they said "Fk you, im done, im independent now. Come at me bro." And the two states went to war. Obviously the north won the war, and slavery was abolished. (gg no re south, get rekt.) Progressive America. Progressivism in the states In the united states around the 1900's, the industrial revolution was in full swing creating a new culture, a new way of thinking, and a new way to rip people off. (It started some time earlier than that but this when it hit full swing in to the public eye) '' This is also the time of new ideals, new ideology's to explore and evolve, and new ways of producing steel on a mass market. ''(Allow me to explain) I credit the industrial revolution to the inventor of the first vacuum water pump, a technological innovation that, get this, moved water to coal mines faster. Allowing the coal miners to work longer hours, allowing them to produce more anthracite that fueled other revolutions like the steam turbine, innovations to pig iron furnaces, and most of all mass produced steel. (Now allow me to elaborate why technical innovation plays in to progressiviesim in the US.) With the new ability to mass produce steel, US companies have started to build new rail road tracks all across the Eastern portion of the country. Trains allowed faster transport of materials from supply area's, to demand centers in cities and towns. Effectively making the world "Smaller" in transport, and economic views, due to the ability to transport things faster. With this bough about a whole new form of economic / productive capacity innovation called the "Progressive Era". (Now on to the real meat, instead fo the filler) To live in this time would be one of three clearly defined people: The Rich Company Owner, The newly defined Middle Class, and the always existing Poor. If you were rich you would have built an empire of companies that have earned you a fortune in america, if you were apart of the middle class you worked your ass off in the mines / factories / and refineries, and if you were the poor... Well you'd be sleeping in the streets, next to gaerbage cans, and places where it's relatively warm by comparison to the rest of the snow covered city. (Note that there was a very small middle class at the time, even though there were massive innovations and generation of a middle class standing, there still was a small middle class.) Two new social ideology's kinda just... seeped in to the new ideologically blank America. '''Social Gospel and Social Darwinism were the two competing ideologies in america,, one focusing on the cut throat policies of the companies, and the other focused on a more... socialistic approach to the problem at hand. Due to the large divide between the rich, and poor. (again remember small middle class) The social gospel was taken up upon the churches, aid providing services, and just generally caring civilians. While the Social Darwinists were just really cut throat business men. During this time there were many people who feared the corruption of the government by companies, including one William Taft. Taft fought vigorously against the companies in the government by doing what is known as "Trust Busting". This practice weakened company power over the things they owned, how they operated, and could operate in american soil. During this time of technological revolution america had enter WWI in 1914. Farewell To Arms The book was made to protest the war in a sense. Showing the horrors and grime to war, instead of a great and perilous fight that was to be won. Hemingway was known for his stance against the war, and usually wrote literature that reflected his views. Quote "After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain." (41.292) ~Ernest Hemingway This quite, at the end of the book, shows how Hemingway worked to portray the idea of "Every man killed has a family, a brother, a sister, a mother, a father. And to think for a minute that killing that man would not have an impact and you're just defending your family, is all wrong and you're destroying entire families, and communities in the world." 'World War II' WWII Otherwise known as the worst war humanity has ever known, WWII was the largest war in all of human kind and with good reason. Over 60 million soldiers died in WWII (Collectively), Then add on another 12 million noncombatant civilians who were slaughtered by the Holocaust. A short review of WWII, and what happened. Well WWII can be argued that it was WWI but with a short break in between everything in the era. Essentially Germany decided to be a big bully again and begin the extermination of all Jewish people in Europe. They began with a small campaign to put Jewish people in to ghettos, then in to work camps, then in to death camps. (That line of progression though) So France, UK, and their allies were like "Yo, this ai'nt coo bruh.". And after that decided to attack Germany, and her allies. (gg no re Germany, get shrekt) The Great Depression + A small effect of the depression on literature and music The great depression refers to a time in the United States where the economy derailed and entered a stagnate downfall, and all over the world but in the context of this Final were only focusing on the US. This time did not just effect one part of america, or one region. This effected the entire United States as a whole. Imagine a pristine land, full of opportunity and wealth, everything is right you own a town car, a television, a radio, and some cigars from Cuba. The land your house is on is worth not too much but enough encase you need to sell it you'd be fine on money for a new home, and the house that lay on the land is a standard two story american style house. (Non-suburban home. Some where near upper middle class life in the 1920's.) Not a thing in the world would indicate this down fall, everything up in the year of 1929 was doing just fantastic. Then the night of October 22ed was something of a peaceful night, the day went by relatively quiet. Then you hear about the massive, out of no where, debt crisis. Everything's loosing its value at an astonishing rate, the price of milk shot up from 5 cents to ten cents, the house you lived in is only worth a fraction of what is originally was, and your paycheck had diminished almost like your job. Back then wages were so low that you could but food for pennies on the dollar, afford a lot of your own things for cheap. Everything simultaneously lost value and inflated at the same time, causing a massive fault in the entire US economy. 'Femenisim in the 1970's' Second Wave of Feminism through out the states Shortly after WWII had subsided the world had started to settle back down in to what is was before. Germany was getting fisted by the allies, and the USSR. Europe was still recovering from the war, and America returned home and had many, many, children. This of course was called the baby boomer generation lasting from 1950 to 1970-ish. But what was not immediately observed was the re-oppression of women, sending them back in to the kitchens of america's mass urban developments. After the war women were being kicked out of factory jobs, people who created jobs did not allow women in to the position, and discrimination quickly followed. Women started to become servile to the man in the relationship, usually getting hitched to a man early in her life, dropping her education, leaving her family, and getting knocked up. Being forced to take care of her kids, her man, her house, her car, and so many other things, the woman was sent in to servitude. This was also the time where the Phrase "Mommy's little helper." came from, as they needed to take pills to physically do the work they needed to do. (They usually worked over 16 hours a day, doing this weekly they would usually work over 75 hours to just do the things around the house.) Eventually the situation started to be corrected with many activists movements that broke the awful and terrible social orders that had developed. (I am probably doing this portion of the text an injustice to those who fought for women's rights.) "Feminine Mystique" quote. "The problem lay buried, unspoken for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfact ion, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban housewife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night, she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question: "Is this all?" Read more at." ~Betty Friedan This quote can summarize on how powerful the book it as a whole. This book created the second feminist movement, freeing american housewife's from the bonds of society. 'The Cold War Review from 1950 to 1990.' Cold War Review The Cold War was a long drawn out session of flaunting of the nukes. Where the US and the USSR were the two flaunting their nukes all over the world. Not essentially having an official start, America and Russia started to hate each other right after the second world war. Where their Ideologies where totally different and drove them both to extremes to one up each other. Starting about 1949 the ruskies had nuclear weapons under their belt, and were able to drop a nuke on the USA if needed. (Note the russians were still pre-space flight capable.) This is when a smaller movement started as well, known as the Space Race. This race in to space was fought by two countries, America and the USSR. (Quote From famous Cold war movie back in the 50's.) '"Why Bother?"' (The 90's!) (Small amount of culture from the 90's) 'Why does it seem like i am forgetting something?' (2000 - 2010) (Quote From "A modern teenage amnesiac." + some culture too) ''Sources / Citation of information. *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucible '''The Crucible'] **[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/ The Crucible *Spark Notes Information, Plot Overview Section*] ***[http://www.shmoop.com/crucible/quotes.html The Crucible *Quote Location*] *[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/farewell/ Farewell to Arms] **[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/farewell/summary.html Plot Overview] ***[http://www.shmoop.com/farewell-to-arms/quotes.html Quote Location (General)] ****[http://www.shmoop.com/farewell-to-arms/men-masculinity-quotes-3.html Quote Location (Specific)] *****[https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/07/04/specials/hemingway-farewell.html Review Location.] *[http://www.enotes.com/topics/feminine-mystique Feminine Mystique] **[http://quotes.dictionary.com/source/the_feminine_mystique_1963?page=1 Quote Location] (Note that the order of literature references goes one, then the next one is not a literary review, then the one after that is. Showing a general time line in American history.) (Note II Since I whole heartedly believe that finals should reflect the total knowledge you've accumulated over the period of the year I would like to remind you that 90% of this work is from my head, so some of the things here can possibly be wrong or not entirely true. and it is up to the teacher to view historical data correct / incorrect and to grade appropriately)